ONLY ONTARIO LIBERALS COMMIT TO FUND YONGE NORTH SUBWAY EXTENSION

NDP Uncommitted to Yonge North, Would Delay Major Projects by Years

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

MARKHAM — The Ontario Liberals are committing $55 million to the Yonge North Subway Extension as part of a sweeping series of GTHA transit investments that the NDP would put at risk if elected on June 7th.

Premier Kathleen Wynne was in Markham today with Mayor Frank Scarpitti to talk about the Liberal plan that is building a record amount of new transit projects. The next round of major GTHA transit projects funded by the Ontario Liberal plan includes the Yonge North Subway Extension and the Relief Line Subway. The Premier highlighted that Ontario Liberals have:

Invested $55 million in planning and design work on the Yonge North Subway Extension

Invested $150 million in planning and design work for the Relief Line Subway

Committed full funding for the provincial share to build both new subway lines as soon as federal and municipal funding commitments are in place

The NDP’s impractical, ideological approach would pose a direct threat to these transit projects and the economic growth that depends on new transit. Rejecting practical, workable solutions, the NDP would abandon the successful, made-in-Ontario approach to public-private infrastructure projects known as Alternative Financing and Procurement (AFP).

Under Ontario Liberals, AFP has a proven track record of delivering transit on-time and on-budget. The Eglinton Crosstown LRT is currently the largest public transit project in Canada — on-time and on-budget thanks to AFP. But for purely ideological reasons, the NDP would scrap AFP and return Ontario to the days of huge costs overruns and long delays. In addition, the NDP’s error-ridden platform cuts funding for a host of essential transit projects, including the Yonge North Subway Extension. Their plan to chip in to municipal transit operating costs will mean no new money to pay for the new, capital-intensive transit projects that families and businesses are relying on.

When Doug Ford was at Toronto City Hall, he was responsible for ripping up funded transit plans, setting commuters back years. In this election, Ford’s expensive promises and complete lack of transparency about the deep cuts he says he will make mean there would be no money to proceed with the next wave of priority projects. Ford’s indefensible plan to make Ontario part of the climate change problem would give big polluters a free pass. But by making big polluters pay, Ontario Liberals are able to boost funding for transit.

Ontario Liberals are the only party with a plan to grow our economy and invest in new transit. Our plan expands publicly funded prescription drugs to cover one-in-two people in Ontario, makes the largest mental health care investment in Canadian history, builds a record amount of transit, boosts hospital funding, helps more people go to college or university with publicly funded tuition and lets more parents go back to work by funding preschool child care from 2 ½ to kindergarten. Ontario’s economy is growing stronger, but that growth and the care and services it funds are at risk this election.

QUOTE

“I said I would build Ontario up. That building is happening all over our province. And it can’t stop. So in the GTHA, we have committed the funding for the next stage, projects like the Yonge North Subway Extension and Relief Line Subway, and we’re pushing our partners to get shovels in the ground. We can’t afford to delay these projects again, but that’s exactly what will happen with the NDP or Doug Ford. We’ve seen it time and again. We can’t let them play politics with your commute.” —Premier Kathleen Wynne

“Building the Yonge North Subway Extension is a priority for Markham residents in order to reduce gridlock and remove 2500 daily bus trips off Yonge Street. I thank Premier Wynne for answering my call to action earlier this year to prioritize the construction of the Yonge North Extension and have shovels in the ground in the next term of government. The need to make forward-thinking infrastructure investments has never been greater. We cannot afford any delays and we certainly cannot afford to rip up plans and go backwards. I have issued the same challenge to all provincial candidates in the 2018 election.”—Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti

“This investment for the Yonge Subway Extension from the Wynne government will help build a stronger economy, reduce carbon emissions and improve the quality of life.”—Richmond Hill Mayor Dave Barrow

QUICK FACTS

The Yonge North Subway Extension will open after the Relief Line Subway and replace 2,500 daily bus trips, carry 165,000 riders per day and eliminate thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gas every year

York is growing and it is estimated that 58 million riders per year would use the extension by 2031

The Toronto Region Board of Trade has found that congestion costs the GTHA more than $6 billion a year

In 2017, 95 per cent of Ontario’s AFP projects were completed on-budget and 70 per cent were completed on-time — a vast improvement over other infrastructure procurement methods

Only Ontario Liberals are lowering the cost of taking public transit. Commuters who transfer between GO and the TTC now pay a discounted, $1.50 TTC fare, with a platform commitment to further lower fares throughout the GTHA